Dan McLay reached the second rest day of the Tour de France after another gruelling battle with the mountains.

The Cropston sprinter, in his second Tour, was the last man over the line on stage 15 to Le Puy en Velay – and that left him last on the General Classification, which has 175 survivors heading into the final week.

However, his GC position is not the concern for McLay, whose job as a sprinter with the Fortuneo-Oscaro team is to get into the battles for the line on the flat stages, while surviving the mountain passes.

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And, to date, McLay has shown his capabilities even if the sprints have been dominated by Germany’s Marcel Kittel (Quick Step). McLay, though, has a quartet of top 10 finishes under his belt, including fifth on stage 11, which finished in Pau.

Prior to that the Leicestershire rider had said after taking 10th on stage seven that he needed to show greater “confidence” and not leave his move for the line too late. On stage 10 he attempted to remedy that and hit the front 350m out which proved too long to hold on with Kittel bearing down on him and McLay had to settle for seventh.

There are still some harsh mountain climbs to get over before McLay can begin to think about the final stage on the Champs-Elysees but he has proved once again that he can contend at the sharp end of races with the fastest men in the world.

Lucy Garner gets her taste of the Tour de France on Thursday when she lines up for Wiggle-High5 at La Course. It is the fourth time the event has been staged with the top women riders in the world having previously tackled a sprint stage in Paris, preceding the final leg of the Tour de France.

This year, however, the organisers have designed La Course for the climbers and they tackle the daunting Col d’Izoard tomorrow. Though climbing is hardly Garner’s forte she knows she can do important work for her team-mates in the early stages of the race – as she did last weekend, helping Annette Edmondson to third overall in the BeNe Ladies Tour, with another Wiggle rider, Emilia Fahlin, fourth.

Grace Garner missed out, however. After a good prologue time-trial she was just outside the top 20 only to crash heavily on stage one and miss the final two days of racing.

The 20-year-old Cosby rider will look for better this evening when she races in the National circuit championship at Sheffield. The start list also includes Countesthorpe teenager Charlotte Broughton, riding in Ford Ecoboost colours.

Broughton was consistently well-placed throughout the Matrix Fitness circuit series earlier in the summer, finishing fourth overall, and is quite capable of putting in a challenge in south Yorkshire, where the race is sure to be fast with plenty of attacking.

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In the men’s race Leicestershire pro outfit Metaltek-Kuota field three riders, Tom Chandler, George Pym and Bertie Newey. George Atkins is among a strong Bike Channel squad which should have a say in how the race pans out.

April Tacey finished 17th in the National junior road race. The Birstall rider was active throughout the race and launched a number of attacks, which were quickly nullified as rivals recognised the threat she posed after her win the previous week at Bourne.

However, after one of the Team 22’s attempted breaks, Liv’s Lauren Murphy countered and opened an advantage that would see her take the win. Tacey missed out in the bunch sprint for second but rode strongly throughout and can look towards the forthcoming National track championships with confidence.